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Senators back university presidents' dire predictions

Two key senators lend support to presidents as budget fears grow.

Phil Coale/Associated PressBernie Machen, President of the University of Florida, speaks at a news conference. Two vital senators are now joining university presidents' protests over Florida's education budget cuts.

Phil Coale/Associated PressBernie Machen, President of the University of Florida, speaks at a news conference. Two vital senators are now joining university presidents' protests over Florida's education budget cuts.

Sen. King

TALLAHASSEE - Two key senators, including one who's angling for the job as the state university system's chancellor, threw their support Thursday behind protesting university presidents who cast a House budget plan as apocalyptic.

University of North Florida President John Delaney joined nine other university presidents at a Capitol Hill news conference and agreed that they were being "alarmist" by speaking of canceled classes, closed schools and rejected students as the consequences of the House budget cuts.

"It's true," he said. "We're alarmed."

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said later that turning up the heat on the Legislature is the right strategy.

"I concur with their attitude that we've got to be a squeaky wheel," King said, "or otherwise they'll run right over us."

The "we" and "us" references are because King says he will apply to be the system's permanent chancellor after the legislative session ends - either as scheduled on May 1 or later if budget negotiations spark overtime.

King said the House's budget plan, which would cut university spending by about 8 percent, would mark the "worst budget for higher education I've ever seen." The Senate plan calls for a 2 percent cut.

Senate leaders have repeatedly said one of the reasons they have yet to accept the House's main budget offer - approving both the House cuts and the upper chamber's gambling expansions and increased taxes on tobacco products - is because of the reductions in higher education spending.

But Rep. Dean Cannon, the Winter Park Republican who is in line to become speaker in 2010 and is a key budget negotiator for the House, said House leaders merely want Senate leaders to agree to the same level cuts, not necessarily reducing each budget area by the same amount.

King didn't meet with the presidents Thursday or join their news conference because the Senate was meeting at the same time, he said. But Delaney said King has been involved in discussions about minimizing cuts to the system.

"I meet with Sen. King virtually every week," Delaney said. "He's been on the key education committees throughout his entire career, so he's a personal friend as well. But he's a fan of the system."

That work, King says, is one reason why he has yet to apply for the position. The official deadline passed weeks ago, though university system officials said the date was not set in stone.

"I don't want anyone to feel as though I'm feathering my own nest," he said.